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At Marriott Lakeshore Reserve Now

saturn28

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I did the tour and got 20,0000 reward points. The salesman was saying the new spin off company plans on opening 18 new Marriott properties within the next 2 years. Thats about the only new thing I heard. However, I didn't believe a word of it. The presentation only lasted 40 minutes with no real pressure to buy.

The property and the units are very nice. However, the resort is almost empty. I would say it is less than 25 percent full. My wife and I were at the pool around 7pm and there wasn't one person around. Even pool bar was closed.
 
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dioxide45

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The resort isn't fully built out, so right now the amenities they have are designed for a larger number of units. The pool was never busy when we were there. Even at Grande Vista the pool is pretty deserted once the sun goes down. If they close the pool bar, I would expect even fewer people to hang around.
 

saturn28

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They close the pool bar so early because the resort is basically empty. Why pay the staff to work when the place is quarter full. Even during the day there are less than a handful of people at the pool.
 

jlf58

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Thats a little optimistic


IThe salesman was saying the new spin off company plans on opening 18 new Marriott properties within the next 2 years.
 
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gblotter

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The salesman was saying the new spin off company plans on opening 18 new Marriott properties within the next 2 years.
IF anything like that happens (big IF), it will be through partnerships and acquisitions - not building new properties. Marriott's SEC-required shareholder disclosures have clearly stated that they have no intention of building new properties in the foreseeable future. In fact, they are selling off buildable land assets to raise capital.

I expect Marriott might finish some existing projects like Lakeshore Reserve and Ko Olina.
 

saturn28

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Thats a little optimistic

The salesman said that being part of Marriott International limited Marriott Vacation Club expansion. He said that that the Vacation Club had to compete for money assigned for new properties with the Marriott Hotel chain. Now that Marriott Vacation Club is a seperate company, they will be able to make their own decisions on how much to budget for new properties. His whole sales pitch to me was that I will need to own trust points to stay at these new resorts. I could buy a minimum of 1000 trust points and that would allow my legacy points to be used at the new resorts.

According to the salesman Marriott Vacation Club is loaded with cash, after the split, to make aquistions and build new resorts
 
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Old Hickory

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I did the tour ... the salesman was saying the new spin off company plans on opening 18 new Marriott properties within the next 2 years... However, I didn't believe a word of it.

That is an interesting statement by the sales person. So why did you not believe a word of it? Did you probe him/her for more information or clarity? 18 new Marriott properties is a big deal. But where? Will these be new developments or buying existing properties? Why have we not heard a word, before?
 

gblotter

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The salesman said that being part of Marriott International limited Marriott Vacation Club expansion. He said that that the Vacation Club had to compete for money assigned for new properties with the Marriott Hotel chain. Now that Marriott Vacation Club is a seperate company, they will be able to make their own decisions on how much to budget for new properties.
True - as a standalone company they can now make their own decisions now and guide their own destiny more independently. However, the timeshare operation of Marriott International was losing massive amounts of money when the two companies were combined. That was the reason for the spinoff. If the timeshare division was sucking money then, how much is there going to be now for expensive new expansion projects in a down economy without deep corporate pockets to cover their bets. Just a glance at resale prices confirms that the timeshare business is not a growing industry.
His whole sales pitch to me was that I will need to own trust points to stay at these new resorts. I could buy a minimum of 1000 trust points and that would allow my legacy points to be used at the new resorts.
Hahah - the same old lies. Ask for it in writing and watch the salesman squirm.
 

gblotter

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According to the salesman Marriott Vacation Club is loaded with cash, after the split, to make aquistions and build new resorts
Loaded with cash? A quick review of their next quarterly report will confirm/deny the truth of that. Apparently they do have enough cash available to resume ROFR at strategic properties where it makes sense for them.
 

BocaBoy

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I expect Marriott might finish some existing projects like Lakeshore Reserve and Ko Olina.

They will be starting the third tower at Grand Chateau very soon--I think in March.
 

jimf41

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His whole sales pitch to me was that I will need to own trust points to stay at these new resorts. I could buy a minimum of 1000 trust points and that would allow my legacy points to be used at the new resorts.

They seem to repeat this line frequently. Has anybody ever come across anything in the initial set up docs that even remotely alludes to this?
 

SueDonJ

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... His whole sales pitch to me was that I will need to own trust points to stay at these new resorts. I could buy a minimum of 1000 trust points and that would allow my legacy points to be used at the new resorts. ...

They seem to repeat this line frequently. Has anybody ever come across anything in the initial set up docs that even remotely alludes to this?

Here's what I get from the docs I've seen -

There is nothing that says, a) that there is a mechanism for Marriott to magically transform Legacy Points to Trust Points, either as a single transaction or as a perk for purchasing Trust Points, OR b) that Legacy Points can be used to directly reserve Trust intervals that are not moved by Marriott to the DC Exchange Company.

With regard to "a" - they could decide to offer Legacy owners a chance to turn in, permanently, their Week(s) for Trust Points (similar to the buy-back/upgrade program that used to exist with Weeks.) But they don't offer such a thing now, and if they ever do I would imagine that it would be more advantageous for Marriott than it would be for the Weeks owners. That's not to say that some owners might not like the opportunity, it just means that I wouldn't expect a fair trade.

With regard to "b" - The way the set-up exists now, it is not possible for Legacy Points to directly reserve Trust intervals. Those intervals are only available for exchange with Legacy Points when they are moved into the DC Exchange Company. In order for Legacy Points to gain direct access to Trust intervals, a large portion of the governing docs will need to be amended and many of those amendments will require approval from regulatory agencies. I just don't see such a complete overhaul of the DC happening, not when it was developed over a period of years and not when the set-up as is will allow them to expand their management and exchange business.

What is possible with the current set-up, is for Marriott to add to the Trust a completely new property which has never been in the Weeks system, and then not allow any of those intervals to be moved into the DC Exchange Company for access with Legacy Points. That's technically possible. But TUG sentiment is pretty much that Marriott would be hurting itself by doing that because movement among the inventory "buckets" is necessary for the entire set-up to succeed. If enrolled Weeks owners are shut out of Trust intervals they'll be unlikely to convert their Weeks to Legacy Points, which in turn will mean fewer intervals at the existing resorts will become available for Trust Points owners. They're being "sold" on the extensive network of resorts; it wouldn't make sense to deliberately reduce that network. At least, not during this stage of the Destination Club - maybe years down the road when some of the existing resorts become older and maybe not often-requested for exchange.

So that's my take. I'm interested to read what everyone else thinks about how this all works.
 
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